How to Work for an Idiot : Survive and Thrive ... Without Killing Your Boss [Hardcover]

John Hoover (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 251 pages
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760775702
• ISBN-13: 978-0760775707
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Hoover, Ph.D. has successfully used the leadership techniques in this book as a writer and producer for The Disney Company and as a divisional general manager for McGraw-Hill. He is helping or has helped dozens of clients, including ABC-TV, American Mensa, The Boeing Leadership Center, CIT, Delta Air Lines, HBO, Hilton Hotels, IBM, Motorola, Printronix, Prudential, Sanyo Fisher USA, Xerox, and many others build strong leadership and effective communication skill sets internal and external to their enterprises. He has authored or coauthored over 15 commercially-published books on leadership and organizational behavior including How to Work for an Idiot (Career Press, 2003/Barnes & Noble Publishers, 2006), How to Live with an Idiot (Career Press, 2004), The Art of Constructive Confrontation (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), Difficult People & Time Management (HarperCollins, 2007) Bullwinkle on Business: Motivational Secrets of a Chief Executive Moose (St. Martin's Press, 2007), and Leadership When the Heat's On (7th Ed., McGraw-Hill, 2007). John's lastest book, The Coaching Connection (AMACOM 2009) will be in bookstores this August & is coauthored with Dr. Paul Gorrell, managing principal of Partners in Human Resources International.

Dr. John is a self-professed "Recovering Idiot Boss" who is unaffraid to use humor and mis-spellings to bring a fresh perspective to solving personal and organizational challenges. Made you look! "We can't all be stuffy scholars, can we?" His parting thought for this visit to Amazon.com, "Nobody ever enhanced his or her career by making the boss look stupid."

John is on the faculty of Fielding Graduate University's Media Psychology program and holds a Marriage and Family Therapy Master's from Azusa Pacific University. He is on the faculty of the American Management Association in New York, Ed Reilly, CEO. Most hours of rthe day, you will find John leading the executive coaching practice at Partners in Human Resources International in New York City (www.WeMakeTalentWork.com).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great "Humor" book, miscategorized as "Business", June 21, 2005

By 

Kent Ponder (Albuquerque., NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive Without Killing Your Boss (Paperback)

I picked this book up while with my son in a Kinko's copy shop, and was pleasantly surprised. As a past employe, then president and owner of two national-distribution corporations, I've read a variety of business books, and must say I disagree with the negative reviews here, based upon taking this book too seriously. I have found Hoover's book to contain marvelous, David Sedaris-style wit and panache, though I do acknowledge that its value as humor exceeds its worth as a practical workplace guide.

In fact, the book is such a humorous parody, it really should be catalogued as "Humor" instead of "Business," as is inappropriately indicated on the back cover. A person who picks this up thinking it's mainly a business book can end up irritated, as other reviews here reveal.

I'll let just one example suffice as indicative of how humor is prioritized over practical business value. Hoover advises you to wear suits that are too large so that your boss will think you're earning too little to afford enough food.

In my opinion, the section on how to be promoted by being transparent and unnoticed, alone, is worth the price of the book. Essentially, in this section Hoover explains, tongue in cheek, how to advance yourself by being unnoticed until you're the last person standing, after the CEO has been arrested and the other replacement candidates are under indictment.

If you appreciate people like Sedaris and even Dave Letterman, I think this book will provide you a lot of insightful humor. I think caustic reviewers took this book much too seriously -- and -- seriously missed the point.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just like my life., May 19, 2004

By 

tony mennite "Tony 2 Fla" (Hermitage Tenn.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive Without Killing Your Boss (Paperback)

"I've worked for a lot of idiot bosses in my life. But, after reading "How to Work for an Idiot," I figured out for the first time that the energy I spent complaining about them was wasted. Dr. John's mixture of humor and real life examples made me realize that being angry and bitter is easy. Everybody expects that. But, putting myself under the microscope is the only way to make things better for me. Like he says in the book, "If I'm working for somebody less talented and intelligent than I am, and I allow that person to make my life miserable, who's the idiot?"

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing Out Loud, November 6, 2003

By 

Stew (Norwalk, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive Without Killing Your Boss (Paperback)

How to Work for an Idiot flows along and seems like Dr. John and the reader are sitting and enjoying a glass of wine together. Bringing in humor before the real meat is a fun way to learn. The 12-step program for recovering idiots was stimulating and fun to read. I liked the point that said, "We need to succeed in spite of the idiots in our lives." Real wonderful, solid advice. I laughed aloud at the line, "I never realized what it was like to work for an idiot until I became self-employed." The stories are excellent...strong points laced with laugh-aloud, self-deprecating humor. Dr. John has a winner on his hands.

Stew Leonard
Founder, Stew Leonard's
One of FORTUNE Magazine's 30 Best Companies to Work for in America